After 48 matches across almost 7 weeks of intense competition, the Cricket World Cup concluded last night with Australia beating the previously undefeated India in the Final. India lost the Coin Toss and were sent in to bat on a tricky surface to score 240 runs in the First Innings, only for Australia to chase down the total with 6 Wickets in hand and 7 Overs to spare. In cricket terms this sounds like a very comfortable victory, but in cricket it’s often the nuance of circumstances and conditions that is overlooked...
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Australia played very well of course, but one of the most important factors of this game was the Coin Toss. In India there is often Dew which falls later in Day / Night matches that makes bowling hard (for spinners in particular) and can make the pitch a bit skiddy – leading to a more consistent bounce that is easier to hit. Australia were under pressure chasing the runs at 3 wickets for 47 in the 7th over but as conditions got easier to bat and the Dew settled in they were able to put a 4th wicket partnership together of 192 Runs between Travis Head (playing an Aggressor role) and Marnus Labuschagne (playing an Anchor role). A partnership of this size in a World Cup Final is simply epic and Travis Heads innings in particular will go down in history to be replayed on highlight reels for decades to come.
As an Australian myself, of course I am happy. This World Cup was Indias to lose and they looked pretty invulnerable all tournament only to lose the 1 game that really mattered. I feel for the fans who were looking pretty devastated in the massive crowd but also had to have a bit of a giggle after some of the shenanigans over various pitches that had occurred in the lead up.
As a cricket lover I don't like to see the Coin Toss have such a massive bearing on games like it did here (and they often do in India) plus I was a little bit disappointed in some of the massive variance in pitch quality. Some of the venues served up utterly flat roads that made the spectacle more like a game of hit and giggle T20 slog-fest, while other pitches were cracked and dusty, spinning sharply with variable and/or slow/low bounce. With such a massive variance the opportunity for pitch manipulation was just too overt and in my opinion it WAS exploited to the detriment of the tournament quality and integrity.
I don’t want to be too negative though because it was still a good tournament. A short time ago I sent out the winnings from my Sweepstakes. Our Winner was @dfinney who has collected 28 HBD for the Australia Win and Runner Up was @bitcoinman who received 12 HBD for drawing India. Thanks to everyone who got involved to support the Sweep. It was good fun and I hope that you got to enjoy some cricket over the last 7 weeks. I certainly did. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!